What's in a score?

There's no doubt that Vale of Lune's 4th team thoroughly deserved to win this game. They were attack-minded throughout, defended well when called to do so and were very sporting in the way they approached the game, lending the visitors a player when injury struck. Paul and his team were good for their win.

Now to Clitheroe.... there were many changes from the team that took to the field the week before. The old heads of Thornber, Smith and Watson were replaced with players who played in new positions, young players returning to the club after absences and good old lads who came out of semi-retirement to help out. These players played out of their skins, defending like lions from start to finish.

Vale started at top speed and soon found themselves 2 tries to the good. Chris Kay in the centres was first to show true grit when he nailed Vale's best player, their inside centre with a tackle that no doubt crushed some of the padding in his body armour. Clitheroe were lifting the tempo in defence albeit to the point of damaging themselves. Young winger Jake Dixon came a cropper with a bang to the head on the 20 minute mark but luckily he was well enough to run the line later on. The Procter lads and their Dad ran did make good yards when the ball came their way and cousin Mark was equally effective at scrum time. Talking of the scrum, utility player Mark Jackson may have found his niche at hooker- his performance was truly admirable considering he'd never played there before and his tight head Keiron Keough [pic], converting from full back, was brilliant in his endeavors throughout, again in his first full game in that position. We may have found future front row players at last! Finally in the scrum, Bob Wilkinson plugged away with Mark Harrison in the second row and old timer Andrew Caunce added some steel to the flank with young Jacob Shorrock, the lineout king.

In the backs, Procter was supplying some good ball to fly half Mick Morris, who was unlucky not to score on more than one occasion. Outside him, Kay and Tom Owen had much traffic coming towards them all game but performed well under extreme pressure. Owen was one of those who had retired some years previously and at one point, showed his class with a dancing attack down the wing towards the try line. Only the touch line stopped him from scoring. Finally, the back three of Dixon, Jones and Gretton stuck their task well with Jones and Gretton putting in some excellent tackles. Believe me, they plenty of opportunity such was the attacking ferocity of the home team.

The positives lay in the way that heads didn't drop at all and the defence certainly improved for an extended period in the first half and in the fact that we have players willing and able to drop into new positions to help out the team. The main highlights were Kay's tackling, Morris's vision and Owen's dash down the wing. That's what it's all about!

Finally, Sean McGlue refereed well and the opposition were good value for their win. Clitheroe will undoubtedly bounce back from this against Carnforth in a couple of weeks' time.